Cult of Mac used to be one of the better Mac websites. It was full of excellent news, opinion, and how-tos. But in recent years, it has morphed into a back-alley website peddling “deals” of all kinds, often through thinly veiled advertorials.
I stopped following the site a while ago, but I still see some of their articles in Flipboard. This morning, I chanced upon this one:
(I’ve blurred the URL and product name to not contribute to the promotion of this piracy-enabling tool.)
This advertorial, written by “Staff Writer,” is from a company that sells a tool to strip DRM from iTunes files. Not only is this illegal in many countries, but it’s also unethical. I’m well aware of the valid reasons for wanting to remove DRM – hey, I’d love to be able to play the movies and TV shows I bought from the iTunes Store in Plex – but the very headline here is promoting piracy. It suggests removing DRM from Apple Music files, not even files that people own.
I don’t ofter call out Mac websites for their transgressions, but this one is too huge. I think sites like this should be boycotted.